Photographic studios typically are designed to be flexible in order to accommodate taking portraits of entire families, as well as smaller groups, individuals or babies.
While the type of equipment and flexibility of various portrait arrangements vary, portrait studios typically have several things in common. The subject or subjects to be photographed are aesthetically positioned on or around a chair, stool, or other posing station, and a backdrop containing a selected background design is placed behind them. Strobe lighting is used to properly illuminate the subjects, usually from at least two angles to create the proper balance of light and shadows. After the equipment is readied, several poses are usually taken.
The subjects wishing to have their pictures taken can range from a group or family to a single individual or a baby. The posing area and overall portrait studio, therefore, should be readily adaptable to the variety of potential subjects. Prior art posing stations, however, such as the one depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,166,687, are often designed for only one type of subject, such as infants or toddlers, thereby restricting the range of subjects that can be photographed.
Even those studios that are able to photograph different types of subjects have significant drawbacks. For example, babies are a frequent subject of photographs and a posing station must ensure the safety of the child while the photograph is being taken but not distract from the picture by having safety features visible in the picture. The posing station must also be able to accommodate groups of people where some people will traditionally be standing and some sitting. Most prior art posing stations either are not able to accommodate both babies and large groups or else are convertible between the different setups only with great difficulty.
To be profitable, portrait studios must operate quickly and efficiently. A studio should be simple to operate and be easily adaptable to different photographic settings. Furthermore, the studio should be able to operate under a variety of conditions and with as few adjustments as possible. Many of the prior art studios require the photographer to reposition the backdrops, lighting and camera between each separate shot, all of which leads to lost time and productivity, as well as increasing the likelihood of errors in the photographs.
A need exists, therefore, for a self-supported portrait studio and related equipment that can accommodate a large variety of portrait subjects in a quick and efficient manner, and that can be properly adjusted with a minimum amount of mental or physical effort from the photographer.